Wake-Up Calls for Managers
For the hard parts no one prepares you for
When the path isn’t clear, the stakes are high, and the answers aren’t obvious—this is where managers struggle most.
Wake-Up Calls for Managers delivers practical, real-world guidance for navigating:
- Tough conversations
- Leading through uncertainty
- Building influence without authority
- Driving results through others
The Leadership Caffeine Blog
How an Operating System Transforms New Manager Development
How do we help our new managers cross the chasm from contributor to manager successfully? One of the vexing career challenges any individual encounters is the shift from contributor to manager. There’s little about succeeding as a contributor that translates to...
How an Operating System Transforms New Manager Development
One of the vexing career challenges any individual encounters is the shift from contributor to manager. There’s little about succeeding as a contributor that translates to guiding, coaching, and supporting others for success. We need an operating system to guide both promoting and new managers across the treacherous chasm of starting-up. This is where the Managers Operating System fits perfectly.
New Leader Tuesday—3 Questions to Bring Your Future into Focus
I can tell you with absolute certainty that I didn’t think about my own leadership legacy during the early part of my career. No one does, and that’s often a mistake. Here are 3 provocative questions to help bring your future as a leader into focus:
Leadership Caffeine™—Great Leaders Care
While a leader’s competence is viewed as the most important attribute to engender trust, the fact that he or she genuinely cares about team members is an important number two.
7 Lead-Off Mistakes to Avoid as a First Time Manager
Establishing yourself as a credible and positive leader is important and challenging. Here are some all-too-common missteps of first-time (and even some hapless, experienced) managers. Avoid them in good health!
Leadership Caffeine™—Don’t Back Off Leadership Development in a Crisis
When things break bad (even momentarily) in an organization, a number of predictable reflexes kick-in. Expenses are cut. Operations reviews evolve into extended, public proctology exams with everyone taking a long look searching for answers and blame. Some of the responses are reasonable and expected. Others are destructive. Suspending the work of developing your leaders and managers is destructive. Instead of letting your training budget dictate your team and leadership development efforts, here are 5 high-contact ideas to turbo-charge your efforts:
Study The Top Leader’s Style Before Signing On
If you’re interested in gaining critical insights into how things work in a prospective employer, look to the style, values and priorities of a firm’s top leader.
New Leader Tuesday—Quit Walking on Eggshells around Boss Bullies
Almost every person who’s ever held a managerial position has spent time walking on eggshells around a deliberately difficult employee to avoid inciting a confrontation. I describe these individuals as “Boss Bullies.” They’re particularly fond of first-time managers because their tactics tend to work on the new managers for a period of time. Here are 6 ideas to help you navigate this sticky situation:
Choose to Work in a Culture that Brings Out the Best in You
I’ve worked in cultures like those ascribed to Amazon.com in the recent and controversial New York Times article, “Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace.” These battle-zone firms exists and they can be very successful. And for the adrenaline junkie career climber, these cultures are perfect. For the rest of us, not so much.
New Leader Tuesday—Ideas to Help You Cure Feedback Fright
While the act of delivering constructive feedback doesn’t rank up there with the fear of public speaking (stage fright) or facing an IRS audit (just pure fear), too many managers…especially newly promoted first-timers avoid this activity because it makes them uncomfortable. Here are 9 ideas to help you move beyond your own feedback fright:
Leadership Caffeine™—When It Comes to Toxic Employees, Don’t Hesitate
The toxic employee has a “special” knack of destabilizing groups, destroying trust between coworkers and stifling conversation and creativity in nearly every situation. For a number of reasons…none of which are worth much, too many leaders hesitate when it comes to purging these radioactive waste products from their teams. If you’ve been rationalizing retaining one of those characters that creates fallout with every encounter, it’s important to recognize what you’re doing to everyone else and then to take action.